MATCH REPORT: Former World Rugby Players of the Year Brodie Retallick and Ardie Savea will chase their first title in Japan Rugby League One after Kobe Steelers qualified for the Final following a record 69-23 win over Tokyo Sungoliath on Saturday.
The biggest winning margin in a League One play-off, and most points by a team in any Japanese nationwide league play-off match, the scoring avalanche was triggered by Savea, when the 32-year-old backrower forced his way across the goal-line a minute before the halftime break.
Kobe led by just a point when the All Black struck for what was his seventh try of the season.
It proved a devastating blow, being the first of four in the space of 14 minutes on either side of halftime, as a previously resilient Sungoliath defence melted in the 30-degree Celcius Tokyo heat.
Sam Cane’s side paid the price for their inability to prevent Kobe attackers from being able to offload in contact, with some paper-thin defence exacerbating their despair as the tries mounted in a one-sided second half, which saw the number one seeds from qualifying in a ruthless mood as they posted 45 points, with just seven in reply.
Dave Rennie’s side had finished as the leading try-scorers in the regular season, averaging over six per match.
They bettered that number by five in the semifinal.
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While Kobe had scored the opening two tries of the afternoon, the boot of Springbok Cheslin Kolbe and a successful line-out drive that reaped a try for English lock George Hammond kept Sungoliath in contention, and they had trailed by just a point before Savea’s pre-halftime intervention.
Savea was a try-scorer again, among the seven Kobe scored in the second period, although he passed up the opportunity of a hat-trick in the final minute, providing the scoring pass for backrower Solomone Funaki, when he almost certainly could have finished the try himself.
Kobe now await the winner of Sunday’s second semifinal between Saitama Wild Knights and Spears.
The championship game could feature a third World Player of the Year should Spears prevail, with current titleholder, Springbok hooker Malcolm Marx, a key member of the western Tokyo-based outfit.